You don't want to get Samuel L. Jackson angry. This actor has made a career out of playing intense characters and the Los Angeles cop he plays in "Lakeview Terrace" ranks with the most tightly wound of them.

This thriller gleefully exploits Jackson's screen reputation, but his enjoyably scary performance isn't quite enough to rescue the movie from the genre conventions it eventually embraces with unintentionally funny results. The reasonably compelling psychological tension in the first half of the movie gives way to standard crazy man material.

There's never really any doubt that Jackson's character, Abel Turner, is an unstable guy. A widower with two young children, he's so overly protective that he's like a mean boot camp officer. He makes rhetorically ripe speeches that initially seem to justify his extremely conservative social values, but before long he's also exhibiting behavior that's odd and even borderline dangerous.

For reasons that are never articulated as fully as they would be in a better movie, Abel is disturbed when he sees that his new neighbors are an interracial couple. Chris Mattson (Patrick Wilson) is white, and his wife, Lisa (Kerry Washington), is black. Although scenes with Lisa's father reveal that he isn't a huge fan of this marriage either, his disapproval is nothing compared to Abel's openly scornful reaction to having a racially mixed couple living in the house next to his.

Director Neil LaBute ("In the Company of Men," "Your Friends and Neighbors") is no stranger to scripting stories in which people are not on their best behavior. If "Lakeview Terrace" sets up a racially charged situation that LaBute should be able to handle with explosive ease, it remains disappointingly superficial as a sociologically charged thriller. Perhaps one reason is that LaBute did not write the script for "Lakeview Terrace," which was written by David Loughery and Howard Korder.

Race is loudly mentioned in the increasingly hostile encounters between Abel and the new neighbors, and the young couple inevitably ends up having arguments about whether skin color remains a submerged sensitive topic within their marriage.

One reason why these arguments tend to skim the surface is that this sort of thriller is constructed around dramatic incidents rather than any meaningful analysis. Abel's sabotage-oriented version of the neighborhood welcome wagon is as poorly explained as it is creepy in the early scenes, and an explanation late in the movie for his motivation is among the unintentionally funny developments.

Another reason the movie doesn't have more dramatic resonance is that the script has inconsistencies in its treatment of the characters. Chris and Lisa seem like bright people, so it verges on the ridiculous for them to think they can go swimming without any bathing suits in their backyard pool; Abel's children and then Abel naturally see them in the pool, providing Abel with just cause to be upset.

Perhaps the most puzzling inconsistency is that Abel, who is a gun-packing prude, condemns hedonistic partying for most of the movie and then decides to keep his neighbors awake through the night by hosting a very bawdy bachelor party for a fellow cop.

We're meant to feel sorry for Chris and Lisa, because they realize calling the police will only bring Abel's friends in a squad car; however, we instead may wonder whether Abel's swings in behavior have been thought through in the script.

For all its faults, "Lakeview Terrace" is entertaining. Jackson's furious performance and the battle campaign-evocative tactics engaged in by both sides ensure there will be plenty of jolts. Hyperactive scenes late in the movie, which include a forest fire approaching the neighborhood, make you wonder if locusts are next on the agenda. Sure, the movie goes way over the top, but it's not boring. Grade: B-

"Lakeview Terrace" (PG-13) is now playing at area theaters.

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